That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me

From the lovely and talented Athenae at First Draft:

"To the Politico-taunting, security-line-jumping, snarking, cheering, bead-wearing be-political-buttoned Sinfonian, who lent me a press pass and said, 'Let's see how far we get with this.' If I had to go a mile high again, you're the one I'd pick to climb next to."

Does this mean we're in the Mile High Club? 'Cause if so, I wish I remembered it.

(And yeah, I taunted that smug fuck from Politico. And I'd do it again, too. Because they're all a bunch of ... smug fucks.)

Drunky sez: if you vote Democratic, the terrorists win

You know, I shouldn't be surprised at the rhetoric, especially when it comes from the Douchebag-in-Chief himself, Drunky McStagger. Yet the forthrightness of it is what's really startling.

According to Drunky, if a Democrat is elected president in November, we should expect another terrorist attack on the U.S.:

Q Mr. President, turning to the biggest issue of all, Iraq. I wonder if you -- various people and various candidates talk about pulling out next year. If we were to pull out of Iraq next year, what's the worst that could happen, what's the doomsday scenario?

THE PRESIDENT: Doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States.

The biggest issue we face is -- it's bigger than Iraq -- it's this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives. Iraq just happens to be a part of this global war. Iraq is the place where al Qaeda and other extremists have made their stand -- and they will be defeated. They'll be defeated through military action, but they'll also be defeated as this young democracy takes hold. They can't stand to live in a free society, that's why they try to fight free societies.

The United States pulling out of Iraq or pulling out of the Middle East or not maintaining a forward presence would send all kinds of signals throughout the Middle East. And it would shake everybody's nerves, and it would embolden the very same people that we're trying to defeat.

That's just atrocious. Seriously. If there are any legitimate journalists left, they ought to be ashamed of this mockery.

Sure, the question isn't specifically about the Democratic candidates, but it's obviously thinly veiled subtext, especially when you consider that the interviewer was Mike Allen of the wingnutty blog Politico. And even if the question was vague, the answer sure wasn't.

The GOP playbook, if anyone had any lingering doubts, will be a healthy dose of racism/sexism (depending on the Democratic nominee) garnished with plenty of fear-mongering. Might as well get used to it now.

Good news, bad news

The good news is, my congresscritter, Ron Klein (D-Fla.), a genuinely good guy, today was named "Rookie of the Year" in Congress.

The bad news: the award was bestowed by the notoriously right-wing blog Politico.

Naturally, I commented accordingly.

Just what we need: more political wankery

Hard on (no pun intended) the heels of Swampland's debut, get ready for the latest and greatest in political commentary (yeah, right) ... here comes The Politico!

The new venture formed by Allbritton Communications has a newspaper, The Politico, and a website, Politico.com, that have become the hot place to be for political reporters.

Well-known journalists from The Washington Post newspaper and Time magazine have joined the multiplatform news organization.

John Harris, formerly the Post's political editor, will be the editor in chief at Politico, Jim VandeHei, who covered national politics at the paper, will be the executive editor and Mike Allen, White House correspondent for Time, will be the chief political correspondent.

Also on board is Roger Simon, an award-winning political columnist and author.

Well, isn't this special? There's some interesting commentary on the Internets about this already, but I suspect you probably can expect more of the same from the "professional journalists" who bring us whatever news suits them ...

What can The Politico and Politico.com bring us that innumerable publications and blogs don't already provide? Especially since it's being run by folks whose Bushie hack credentials already have been burnished?

I'm not holding my breath ...